Adoption Update 2

03/02/2018 11:21

It has been one month since my last update regarding our adoption process, and as promised, here is my update.

Not much has happened since the last update.After the homestudy, we did some window-shopping so we knew how much money we would need to prepare our home for a child.It’s difficult to do that right now as we do not know the age of the child we will be matched with, nor do we know the gender.We mostly went shopping for the price of things, and to see what exactly would be helpful to raise a child.

We need extra certified copies of our birth certificates and those were taking their sweet time coming in the mail.There is no way to check your application once it has been sent so it really it just a waiting game.So I waited every day for these and one day, I got them in the mail.I was so excited.I ripped open the letters with glee and was confused to find, my application had been sent back to me.Of course, they sent a letter explaining why it was rejected, but I didn’t care in that moment.I was so angry.It was an honest mistake and they were being so petty.It was a mistake any they probably had been making themselves, but they chose to deny my application anyway.

I about ripped up the letters.I thought better of it and decided to eat ice cream grumpily.I sent JD a text before he came home to warn him not to talk to me.It took me a couple days to get over that, but it’s all good now.

What actually made me feel better was the fact that our psych evaluation finally came in.It is unusual for letters to take a long time to be sent in Japan.She had the letter sent in January but it took until nearly the end of February to arrive.Either she didn’t actually send it, or the annual fee change at the post office messed up things.Either way, it has been received.That is one more thing to cross off our list of documents.Now the only thing to wait on are these birth certificate copies.Once those are in, we are golden.Our homestudy will be able to be completed by the US and we will be able to get our Japanese homestudy started.

We had to make some significant financial sacrifices during this last month to offset the costs we had to front for the homestudy while also saving for the next homestudy.Not so long after that, we will have to pay for the USCIS processing fee for the US homestudy to be finalized.So many fees and they are all coming at us so fast.

I have been doing my best to save $500 a month.I absolutely refuse to spend that money, on anything other than the adoption.As of now, we have $1000 in savings. We need to triple that at the latest by mid-May.We spoke with our social worker from Japan, and she said that the homestudy will take place in either May or June.It hasn’t been decided yet, nor can it be decided until our documents have been sent.

Since nothing is happening this month for the adoption, my goal for March is to keep saving and spending as little money as possible in order to save the most amount for the homestudy.Hopefully, the birth certificates arrive by April without being denied for something silly again.They are already expensive enough.

We have 457 pieces of our puzzle left for sale.We are still selling pieces for anyone who is interested.Each piece is $20.You can buy as many as you like by clicking here.

Things may start to slow down for you guys, but us, it is moving really fast.We are very much aware of the adoption every day.We cannot hide from it because the sacrifices we have made affect our daily life.We have to make drastic food sacrifices.Don’t worry, we are not starving, but we are not eating everything we would like to eat.After I got paid, we ate out…..at McDonald’s.We consider that to be expensive now.We have had to learn to make a lot of things from scratch to save as much money as possible.We have also learned of cheap Japanese home cooked meals.I am thinking of making a post and video about it.

If ever you think about us, please stop and say a short little prayer.Sometimes life is hard, and sometimes it is easy, and these days, it is mostly hard than easy.We have great friends though.They are understanding of our finances and tend to not ask us to pay for anything unless we absolutely have to. (Like bus fares).

Thanks for all your support!I will be back next month with another update.#ItTakesAVillage